CURATED BY
CARTER WYNNE
FEATURING:
YETUNDE SAPP, MATTHEW RUSSO, JAZZMIN IMANI, SHANA KOHNSTAMM. ISAIAH
ALADEJOBI, AND LOLA COLLINS
OCTOBER 18 -
NOVEMBER 10 2024
DC ARTS CENTER
PHOTO CREDITS - ALBERT TING
Exhibition Description:
In our complex world, how can one distill the meaning of play? How do we conceptualize the relationship between experimentation and resistance? What is the process for allowing one’s curiosity to emerge so that cognitive liberation is possible? Intrinsic Tool serves as an incubator to address these existential puzzles. Imagined as an interactive experience, the exhibition is not only a collection of artworks but also an invitation to indulge in the eccentric and a reminder to break away from the simulation of everyday life.
Amidst the adversity inherent to being human, Intrinsic Tool posits that innate remedies are available to all of us, independent of identity or circumstance. With this underlying posture as its heartbeat, the exhibition attempts to demonstrate that play is an instrument for personal and collective liberation. From dynamic paintings that defy the traditional bounds of canvas to interactive cross-cultural visual tools and otherworldly labyrinth sculptures that push one’s imagination, the featured works further the viewer’s capacity for experiencing and feeling in subtly radical ways.
Curated by D.C. native artist Carter Wynne, this space brings together six creators from varied backgrounds exploring play within their respective practices and ethos. The pieces are meant to be seen, touched, and embodied. They possess an insurgent quality. The artists’ ability to think beyond the limitations of the oppressive forces that govern our society is evidenced through intuitive brushstrokes, saturated world-building, satirical critique, imaginative homage, and investigative landscapes. The exhibition encourages participants to consider any form of play as a political act, a transgressive occurrence. A new visual language is encoded, the senses are disrupted, and our primordial need for experimentation is satiated.
photo credits - luke pietrantonio
Curatorial Statement:
“It might sound a bit fluffy to insist that experimentation and struggle go hand in hand, or that celebration and love are linked to militant resistance. They aren’t always connected. Yet creativity and experimentation are vital in the face of forces that not only crush disobedience but also steer desires.”
- Nick Montgomery & carla bergman
Joyful Militancy, 2017
There is a wide range of perspectives on what constitutes “play,” each one richly detailed and textured. Similar to the discourse surrounding the term, play’s definition is vast, with interpretations ranging from the literal to the deeply philosophical. Some minds situate play in the context of youthfulness, rendering it obsolete with onset of adulthood. Others explore ethereal characterizations of the word…organic, corporeal, and joyful. Play can also serve as an agent of insurgency by challenging structural norms or using satire to critique cultural conventions. Alternatively, it can be meditative, centering process and letting intuition guide. Play is requisite for personal and collective liberation. Whether it be through meticulous or spontaneous means, we all must fulfill our primordial need to play.
Turbulence is an incontrovertible aspect of being human. Close to home and far away, there is suffering and adversity. Pain and injustice are not only historical facts, but also future inevitabilities. Working in civil rights for the last four years has taught me that much. Lately, I’ve been grappling with my own role amidst this chaos and trying to meaningfully engage with these truths in a sustainable way. I strive to hold space for a multitude of struggles without homogenizing them or approaching them solely through a lens of despondency. There is danger in implying that there is one solution to disparate maladies. That being said, I would argue that there are some innate remedies and intrinsic tools for navigating this entropy that are available to all regardless of identity or circumstance. Chief among them is play.
In the absence of play, disquiet and trauma fester, preventing us from thinking beyond the limitations of the oppressive forces that govern our world and keeping us trapped in the simulation. Thus, engaging in any form of play is a political act, a transgressive occurrence. I’ve given much thought to how we might use play as an instrument to hold two truths at once. Amidst the struggle, there will be joy.
For my first curatorial project, I sought to marry these seemingly oppositional forces by exploring the ways in which six artists from a variety of backgrounds conceptualize play within their own practice and ethos. Intrinsic Tool invites viewers to break away from the prosaic grind of contemporary society and investigate the limitations of their own cognition. The artworks are meant to be seen, touched, and embodied. From dynamic paintings that defy the traditional bounds of canvas, to interactive cross-cultural visual tools and otherworldly labyrinth sculptures that push one’s imagination, the artists that comprise Intrinsic Tool decouple themselves from life’s “shoulds.” Collectively, they further the viewer's capacity for experimenting and feeling in subtly radical ways.
"Perhaps play would be more respected if we called it something like “self-motivated practice of life skills,” but that would remove the lightheartedness from it and thereby reduce its effectiveness. So we are stuck with the paradox. We must accept play’s triviality in order to realize its profundity"
-Peter Gray
Free to Learn, 2013
Jazzmin Imani
Born to a Puerto Rican mother and African-American father, my work is informed by the touchpoints between these two identities of African descent. I explore how our cultural markers differ and overlap depending on where we are from in the Americas. I am most interested in how history is felt and remembered––the emotions tied to a historical moment or connection to an ancestor––rather than its diagnostic description. The recovery process of history and memory for a person of African descent in the Americas is forcibly active; we are consistently trying to piece together a past that has been systematically denied. For me, having the time and space to play is an essential step in the process of recovering our history. Through my own experimentation and play as an artist, my work allows me to honor our history while simultaneously progressing towards joy and resistance.
Instagram: @jazzminimani
Born to a Puerto Rican mother and African-American father, my work is informed by the touchpoints between these two identities of African descent. I explore how our cultural markers differ and overlap depending on where we are from in the Americas. I am most interested in how history is felt and remembered––the emotions tied to a historical moment or connection to an ancestor––rather than its diagnostic description. The recovery process of history and memory for a person of African descent in the Americas is forcibly active; we are consistently trying to piece together a past that has been systematically denied. For me, having the time and space to play is an essential step in the process of recovering our history. Through my own experimentation and play as an artist, my work allows me to honor our history while simultaneously progressing towards joy and resistance.
Instagram: @jazzminimani
Shana Kohnstamm
My work reflects a peculiar interest in the consciousness of living things––the point where corporeal and ethereal meet: what makes something alive. I am captivated by the cellular mechanics of organisms, the movement and awareness of plants and animals, and the intrinsic unspeakable drive that artists have to create. These fuel my studio practice. I was raised on classic science fiction and have always been in awe of world-building talents, those brilliant humans who could conjure new physics, mind-bending science, and unimagined realities within their own minds. Where do these ideas come from and how do artists access them? When sculpting, I prefer to use my hands, either directly on the material or with the simplest of tools: primitive and slow. There is a meditative state that occurs when decisions are made unconsciously, as if the work itself is eager to be birthed. I am particularly drawn to the concept of biomorphism, which refers to the representation of living forms in art. By expanding the definition of “living” to otherworldliness, alternate realities, and spiritual realms, my sculptures are both familiar and strange. They seem to breathe and move with a life of their own.
Instagram: @shana_kohnstamm
My work reflects a peculiar interest in the consciousness of living things––the point where corporeal and ethereal meet: what makes something alive. I am captivated by the cellular mechanics of organisms, the movement and awareness of plants and animals, and the intrinsic unspeakable drive that artists have to create. These fuel my studio practice. I was raised on classic science fiction and have always been in awe of world-building talents, those brilliant humans who could conjure new physics, mind-bending science, and unimagined realities within their own minds. Where do these ideas come from and how do artists access them? When sculpting, I prefer to use my hands, either directly on the material or with the simplest of tools: primitive and slow. There is a meditative state that occurs when decisions are made unconsciously, as if the work itself is eager to be birthed. I am particularly drawn to the concept of biomorphism, which refers to the representation of living forms in art. By expanding the definition of “living” to otherworldliness, alternate realities, and spiritual realms, my sculptures are both familiar and strange. They seem to breathe and move with a life of their own.
Instagram: @shana_kohnstamm
Lola Collins
My practice investigates the possibility of form and space and their relationship to my experience as a Black femme moving through the world. I center the historical, the social, and the temporal, always. In my paintings, sculpture, public work, performance, and text art, I am interested in the process of building. To me, building centers deconstruction and reconstruction. I do this building process literally or metaphorically within my practice, sometimes simultaneously. I am interested in this process because it mirrors Black life, and the ways in which those in the Black diaspora rebuild their identities daily in order to re-frame pasts, presents, and futures that truly represent who we are.
Instagram: @collinspiracy
My practice investigates the possibility of form and space and their relationship to my experience as a Black femme moving through the world. I center the historical, the social, and the temporal, always. In my paintings, sculpture, public work, performance, and text art, I am interested in the process of building. To me, building centers deconstruction and reconstruction. I do this building process literally or metaphorically within my practice, sometimes simultaneously. I am interested in this process because it mirrors Black life, and the ways in which those in the Black diaspora rebuild their identities daily in order to re-frame pasts, presents, and futures that truly represent who we are.
Instagram: @collinspiracy
Isaiah Aladejobi
My art reflects the duality of my cultural upbringing. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., with Nigerian heritage, I merge American and Nigerian influences to depict my past, present, and future. My artistic voice is evident in my use of graphic design, fabrication, and fine arts techniques, which convey the intersection of these cultures. Central to my work is Kole, a building language I developed to craft sculptures that preserve cultural heritage. Drawing from Yoruba culture and my D.C. environment, Kole serves as a visual language that evolves with time. These building blocks aim to provide an educational and culturally enriching experience for individuals of all ages, with a particular focus on youth. By combining the traditional design elements of Yoruba architecture with the modern urban aesthetic of Washington D.C., the building blocks offer a unique blend of cultural influences. I introduce play as a new art form within Kole, using it to foster creativity, community, and collaboration. Through playful interaction, Kole encourages participants to explore identity and culture in an innovative and accessible way.
Instagram: @pzaycreates
My art reflects the duality of my cultural upbringing. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., with Nigerian heritage, I merge American and Nigerian influences to depict my past, present, and future. My artistic voice is evident in my use of graphic design, fabrication, and fine arts techniques, which convey the intersection of these cultures. Central to my work is Kole, a building language I developed to craft sculptures that preserve cultural heritage. Drawing from Yoruba culture and my D.C. environment, Kole serves as a visual language that evolves with time. These building blocks aim to provide an educational and culturally enriching experience for individuals of all ages, with a particular focus on youth. By combining the traditional design elements of Yoruba architecture with the modern urban aesthetic of Washington D.C., the building blocks offer a unique blend of cultural influences. I introduce play as a new art form within Kole, using it to foster creativity, community, and collaboration. Through playful interaction, Kole encourages participants to explore identity and culture in an innovative and accessible way.
Instagram: @pzaycreates
Matthew Russo
When working sculpturally, I explore how a vocabulary of materials and forms develops and influences the viewer's or participant's experience. Using materials such as fabric, foams, resin, plastic, wood, and paper pulp, I create objects that engage in a playful dialogue of associations and quirks. My goal is to reach a point of introspection through aesthetic exploration. By engaging with these objects in a creative context, we can ask questions about how we understand and process them, ultimately gaining insights into how we function beyond purely aesthetic considerations. When painting, I seek to represent invented forms within the space they inhabit. Developing images that float between abstraction and depiction, I am interested in the numerous ways paint can confuse or allude to materials, space, and forms. By exploring and combining materials, aesthetics, and theoretical concepts, new objects and images emerge, inviting further play and investigation.
Instagram: @matthew_j_russo
When working sculpturally, I explore how a vocabulary of materials and forms develops and influences the viewer's or participant's experience. Using materials such as fabric, foams, resin, plastic, wood, and paper pulp, I create objects that engage in a playful dialogue of associations and quirks. My goal is to reach a point of introspection through aesthetic exploration. By engaging with these objects in a creative context, we can ask questions about how we understand and process them, ultimately gaining insights into how we function beyond purely aesthetic considerations. When painting, I seek to represent invented forms within the space they inhabit. Developing images that float between abstraction and depiction, I am interested in the numerous ways paint can confuse or allude to materials, space, and forms. By exploring and combining materials, aesthetics, and theoretical concepts, new objects and images emerge, inviting further play and investigation.
Instagram: @matthew_j_russo
Yetunde Sapp
My preferred method of creation is live painting on a blank canvas. In those spaces, I am present. I create based on intuitive split-decision movements. Color is focal. As a Black woman artist, I often feel pressure and responsibility for my art to communicate something complex and address issues that my community faces. While I’m honored to have the platform to do that, I also have to remind myself of why I create in the first place and center my spontaneous process. I’m approaching a new era of my artmaking where I better grasp my unique state of flow and what forward mobility feels like. This mindset has been conducive to the theme of sports appearing in my paintings. Similar to the painting process, sports have also provided me with an environment where I feel comfortable experimenting. My creative and athletic selves mirror each other in the sense that presence is more important than making mistakes. I advance towards what lies ahead with grace and love.
Instagram: @yaytuneday
My preferred method of creation is live painting on a blank canvas. In those spaces, I am present. I create based on intuitive split-decision movements. Color is focal. As a Black woman artist, I often feel pressure and responsibility for my art to communicate something complex and address issues that my community faces. While I’m honored to have the platform to do that, I also have to remind myself of why I create in the first place and center my spontaneous process. I’m approaching a new era of my artmaking where I better grasp my unique state of flow and what forward mobility feels like. This mindset has been conducive to the theme of sports appearing in my paintings. Similar to the painting process, sports have also provided me with an environment where I feel comfortable experimenting. My creative and athletic selves mirror each other in the sense that presence is more important than making mistakes. I advance towards what lies ahead with grace and love.
Instagram: @yaytuneday